Aggies aim to spread ball among RBs; Florida ‘flopping around’?

COLLEGE STATION – Texas A&M switches gears from its ballyhooed Southeastern Conference opener to an old foe new Aggies coach Kevin Sumlin is quite familiar with: SMU of Conference USA.

The Aggies and Mustangs meet at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Ford Stadium, A&M’s first sojourn onto the SMU campus since 1990, when the programs were Southwest Conference foes. Sumlin coached Houston the past four seasons, and was 4-0 against the Mustangs.

A few highlights from today’s weekly press conference, and on the heels of the Aggies’ 20-17 loss to Florida on Saturday at Kyle Field:

* Sumlin said senior running back Christine Michael is healthy and that he earned so few carries in the second half (two early in the third quarter compared to 11 in the first half) because the Aggies have “three good backs. (And) we’re going to rotate our backs.”

Michael finished with 13 carries for 33 yards, while Ben Malena (3-23) and Trey Williams (5-18) followed. The Aggies’ leading rusher, however, was freshman quarterback Johnny Manziel, with 17 carries for 60 yards.

* Sumlin said his team appeared in good shape in the opener against Florida and “it wasn’t our team flopping around on the field in the second half.” I asked him if the Gators’ “flopping around” was because of conditioning or something else. “You were there,” he responded.

* Defensive coordinator Mark Snyder on the aggressiveness of end Damontre Moore, who finished with three of the Aggies’ eight sacks of the Gators: “I’d rather have a dog that bites than have to teach one to bite.”

* An issue was made late last week before the game of the Aggies updating the exterior of Kyle Field by listing two more conference titles from the Big 12 from 1997 and 2010, when they won South Division titles (and the last was shared with Oklahoma and Oklahoma State).

A&M also added two more national titles (1919 and 1927) on Kyle’s face to join their one recognized Associated Press championship from 1939. The Aggies have claimed the 1919 title for a few years, and the 1927 title more recently (titles from back then are more of a free for all for undefeated teams, before the AP came along and designated a champion in 1936).

Anyway, an A&M official told me the plan is to add “South” by the newly-listed 1997 and 2010 conference titles, preferably before the Aggies’ next home game, on Sept. 22 against South Carolina State. That should help quiet some critics, but Big 12 followers know the true champions those seasons were Nebraska and Oklahoma, because each won the Big 12 championship game.